A NEWPORT man recovering from heart surgery was just days away from leaving hospital before he collapsed and died, an inquest heard.

John Buhagiar, 80, of Cefn Close, Rogerstone, was found dead on the floor of a ward toilet at the University of Wales Hospital in Cardiff, ten days after a successful bypass on September 10 last year.

Heart specialist Peter O'Keefe said the retired electrician, had been making an "exceptional" recovery after the bypass - his second in 14 years - and would shortly have been discharged.

But nurses found his body on the morning of September 20 after he had risen to use the bathroom.

Cardiff coroner's court heard Mr Buhagiar had a long history of heart disease, and suffered from severe narrowing of the arteries.

His widow, Nora, a retired machine operator, was at the hearing at today, and thanked Mr O'Keefe for his efforts to prolong her husband's life.

Pathologist Richard Jones said the cause of death was a sudden rupture of the heart, aggravated by the trauma of major surgery.

Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan coroner Mary Hassell said it was "fantastic" that Mr Buhagiar's first operation in 1993 had worked so well and given him a new lease of life.

"But his heart just wasn't strong enough and couldn't stand it in the end," she said.

Ms Hassell recorded a verdict of death "as a result of trauma of major heart surgery in a patient already suffering poor health due to an underlying heart condition."